It now looks as though the cause of the accident was Captain Schettino's decision to depart from the authorised route in order to "salute" the island home of his head waiter – a grossly irresponsible act, but one which doesn't cast such a grave stain on the Captain's character as this latest accusation. To describe that as an innocent mistake would be going too far, but he wasn't doing something he knew to be morally wrong. Abandoning a sinking ship, by contrast, is a despicable act. If that turns out to be true, the Captain is guilty of placing his own safety above that of the passengers and crew. Faced with a choice between dishonour and endangerment, he chose dishonour.

In Italy, this would be a source of deep national shame, just as I would feel ashamed to be British if the captain of a British cruise ship was accused of behaving in a similar manner. One of the peculiarities of disasters like this is that men in positions of great responsibility become symbols of nationhood. If they distinguish themselves, all their countrymen feel proud, and if they disgrace themselves, they all feel disgraced. Indeed, it is precisely because men who find themselves in these testing situations know that they're acting on behalf of their nations – and carry the weight of that responsibility – that they often behave well.

Countless news reports over the past few days have compared the Costa Concordia disaster to the sinking of the Titanic, with many eyewitnesses claiming that the behaviour of the passengers and crew was exactly like that of the passengers and crew of the Titanic. But if the stories about Captain Schettino's behaviour are true, this accident was unlike that of the 1912 disaster in one important respect: Commander Edward John Smith did not abandon his ship when it struck an iceberg on the night of April 14 1912. On the contrary, he died, along with 1,516 other people, in the small hours of the following morning.

I may be kidding myself, but I like to think that if the Captain of the Costa Concordia had been British he would have behaved with the same distinction as Edward Smith, not least because of the example set by that honourable man. In Beacon Park in Lichfield there is a statue of this sailor along with the following inscription: "Commander Edward John Smith, RD, RNR. Born January 27 1850, Died April 15 1912, Bequeathing to his countrymen the memory and example of a great heart, a brave life and a heroic death. Be British."